Useful Captives: The Role of POWs in American Military Conflicts is a wide-ranging investigation of the integral role prisoners of war (POWs) have played in the economic, cultural, political, and military aspects of American warfare. In Useful Captives volume editors Daniel Krebs and Lorien Foote and their contributors explore the wide range of roles that captives play in times of conflict: hostages used to negotiate vital points of contention between combatants, consumers, laborers, propaganda tools, objects of indoctrination, proof of military success, symbols, political instruments, exemplars of manhood ideals, loyal and disloyal soldiers, and agents of change in society.The book's eleven chapters cover conflicts involving Americans, ranging from colonial warfare on the Creek-Georgia border in the late eighteenth century, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great War, World War II, to twenty-first century U.S. drone warfare. This long historical horizon enables the reader to go beyond the prison camp experience of POWs to better understand the many ways they influence the nature and course of military conflict.Useful Captives shows the vital role that prisoners of war play in American warfare and reveals the cultural contexts of warfare, the shaping and altering of military policies, the process of state-building, the impacts upon the economy and environment of the conflict zone, their special place in propaganda and political symbolism, and the importance of public history in shaping national memory.

Useful Captives: The Role of POWs in American Military Conflicts is a wide-ranging investigation of the integral role prisoners of war (POWs) have played in the economic, cultural, political, and military aspects of American warfare. In Useful Captives volume editors Daniel Krebs and Lorien Foote and their contributors explore the wide range of roles that captives play in times of conflict: hostages used to negotiate vital points of contention between combatants, consumers, laborers, propaganda tools, objects of indoctrination, proof of military success, symbols, political instruments, exemplars of manhood ideals, loyal and disloyal soldiers, and agents of change in society.

The book’s eleven chapters cover conflicts involving Americans, ranging from colonial warfare on the Creek-Georgia border in the late eighteenth century, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great War, World War II, to twenty-first century U.S. drone warfare. This long historical horizon enables the reader to go beyond the prison camp experience of POWs to better understand the many ways they influence the nature and course of military conflict.

Useful Captives shows the vital role that prisoners of war play in American warfare and reveals the cultural contexts of warfare, the shaping and altering of military policies, the process of state-building, the impacts upon the economy and environment of the conflict zone, their special place in propaganda and political symbolism, and the importance of public history in shaping national memory.

Table of Contents

List of IllustrationsPrefaceIntroduction, Daniel Krebs and Lorien FooteI. Cultural Contexts of Warfare1. Border Captives: Prisoners of War on the Creek-Georgia Border, 1770-1800, Joshua S. Haynes2. Down, but Not Out: Manhood and the American Prisoner-of-War Experience in World War I, Brian F. FeltmanII. Military Policies in Warfare3. "Citizen for Citizen": The Problem of Political Prisoners during the American Revolutionary War, T. Cole Jones4. Forgotten Prisoners: Communist Prisoners of War during Vietnam''s American War, Marcel Berni5. Abandoning Traditional Concepts of Prisoners of War: Military Captives in the Twenty-First Century, Paul J. SpringerIII. State-Building and Warfare6. Blue or Gray? Taking Advantage of the Civil War Prisoner System, Earl J. Hess7. Sowing the Seeds of Democracy: A Comparative Examination of American Efforts to Reeducation German and Japanese Prisoners of War in the United States during World War II, Adam S. RockIV. Economic and Environmental Dimensions of Warfare8. Carceral Footprints Left in the Civil War North: Trappings of the Camp Douglas and Elmira Prison Environs, Michael P. GrayV. Political Symbols in Warfare9. "The Nation Cannot Now Be Entrusted to Hands Reeking with the Blood of Loyal Victims": Prison Propaganda, Hard War, and the Politics of Criminalization, Daniel Farrell10. "As Happy a Man as Ever Wore ''Confederate Grey''": Confederate Former Prisoners of War and Their Narratives of Imprisonment, 1877-1890, Angela M. RiottoVI. Public Conversations and Narratives about Warfare11. Prisoners of the Public: The National Park Service Interprets the Prisoner-of-War Experience, Adam H. Domby and Christopher W. BarrContributorsIndex

Some 37,000 soldiers from six German principalities, collectively remembered as Hessians, entered service as British auxiliaries in the American War of Independence. At times, they constituted a third of the British army in North America, and thousands of them were imprisoned by the Americans. Despite the importance of Germans in the British war effort, historians have largely overlooked these men. Drawing on research in German military records and common soldiers' letters and diaries, Daniel Krebs places the prisoners on center stage in A Generous and Merciful Enemy, portraying them as individuals rather than simply as numbers in casualty lists.Setting his account in the context of British and European politics and warfare, Krebs explains the motivations of the German states that provided contract soldiers for the British army. We think of the Hessians as mercenaries, but, as he shows, many were conscripts. Some were new recruits; others, veterans. Some wanted to stay in the New World after the war. Krebs further describes how the Germans were made prisoners, either through capture or surrender, and brings to life their experiences in captivity from New England to Havana, Cuba.Krebs discusses prison conditions in detail, addressing both the American approach to war prisoners and the prisoners' responses to their experience. He assesses American efforts as a ""generous and merciful enemy"" to use the prisoners as economic, military, and propagandistic assets. In the process, he never loses sight of the impact of imprisonment on the POWs themselves.Adding new dimensions to an important but often neglected topic in military history, Krebs probes the origins of the modern treatment of POWs. An epilogue describes an almost-forgotten 1785 treaty between the United States and Prussia, the first in western legal history to regulate the treatment of prisoners of war.

Useful Captives: The Role of POWs in American Military Conflicts is a wide-ranging investigation of the integral role prisoners of war (POWs) have played in the economic, cultural, political, and military aspects of American warfare. In Useful Captives volume editors Daniel Krebs and Lorien Foote and their contributors explore the wide range of roles that captives play in times of conflict: hostages used to negotiate vital points of contention between combatants, consumers, laborers, propaganda tools, objects of indoctrination, proof of military success, symbols, political instruments, exemplars of manhood ideals, loyal and disloyal soldiers, and agents of change in society.The book's eleven chapters cover conflicts involving Americans, ranging from colonial warfare on the Creek-Georgia border in the late eighteenth century, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great War, World War II, to twenty-first century U.S. drone warfare. This long historical horizon enables the reader to go beyond the prison camp experience of POWs to better understand the many ways they influence the nature and course of military conflict.Useful Captives shows the vital role that prisoners of war play in American warfare and reveals the cultural contexts of warfare, the shaping and altering of military policies, the process of state-building, the impacts upon the economy and environment of the conflict zone, their special place in propaganda and political symbolism, and the importance of public history in shaping national memory.

Useful Captives: The Role of POWs in American Military Conflicts is a wide-ranging investigation of the integral role prisoners of war (POWs) have played in the economic, cultural, political, and military aspects of American warfare. In Useful Captives volume editors Daniel Krebs and Lorien Foote and their contributors explore the wide range of roles that captives play in times of conflict: hostages used to negotiate vital points of contention between combatants, consumers, laborers, propaganda tools, objects of indoctrination, proof of military success, symbols, political instruments, exemplars of manhood ideals, loyal and disloyal soldiers, and agents of change in society.

The book’s eleven chapters cover conflicts involving Americans, ranging from colonial warfare on the Creek-Georgia border in the late eighteenth century, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great War, World War II, to twenty-first century U.S. drone warfare. This long historical horizon enables the reader to go beyond the prison camp experience of POWs to better understand the many ways they influence the nature and course of military conflict.

Useful Captives shows the vital role that prisoners of war play in American warfare and reveals the cultural contexts of warfare, the shaping and altering of military policies, the process of state-building, the impacts upon the economy and environment of the conflict zone, their special place in propaganda and political symbolism, and the importance of public history in shaping national memory.

Table of Contents

List of IllustrationsPrefaceIntroduction, Daniel Krebs and Lorien FooteI. Cultural Contexts of Warfare1. Border Captives: Prisoners of War on the Creek-Georgia Border, 1770-1800, Joshua S. Haynes2. Down, but Not Out: Manhood and the American Prisoner-of-War Experience in World War I, Brian F. FeltmanII. Military Policies in Warfare3. "Citizen for Citizen": The Problem of Political Prisoners during the American Revolutionary War, T. Cole Jones4. Forgotten Prisoners: Communist Prisoners of War during Vietnam''s American War, Marcel Berni5. Abandoning Traditional Concepts of Prisoners of War: Military Captives in the Twenty-First Century, Paul J. SpringerIII. State-Building and Warfare6. Blue or Gray? Taking Advantage of the Civil War Prisoner System, Earl J. Hess7. Sowing the Seeds of Democracy: A Comparative Examination of American Efforts to Reeducation German and Japanese Prisoners of War in the United States during World War II, Adam S. RockIV. Economic and Environmental Dimensions of Warfare8. Carceral Footprints Left in the Civil War North: Trappings of the Camp Douglas and Elmira Prison Environs, Michael P. GrayV. Political Symbols in Warfare9. "The Nation Cannot Now Be Entrusted to Hands Reeking with the Blood of Loyal Victims": Prison Propaganda, Hard War, and the Politics of Criminalization, Daniel Farrell10. "As Happy a Man as Ever Wore ''Confederate Grey''": Confederate Former Prisoners of War and Their Narratives of Imprisonment, 1877-1890, Angela M. RiottoVI. Public Conversations and Narratives about Warfare11. Prisoners of the Public: The National Park Service Interprets the Prisoner-of-War Experience, Adam H. Domby and Christopher W. BarrContributorsIndex

Some 37,000 soldiers from six German principalities, collectively remembered as Hessians, entered service as British auxiliaries in the American War of Independence. At times, they constituted a third of the British army in North America, and thousands of them were imprisoned by the Americans. Despite the importance of Germans in the British war effort, historians have largely overlooked these men. Drawing on research in German military records and common soldiers' letters and diaries, Daniel Krebs places the prisoners on center stage in A Generous and Merciful Enemy, portraying them as individuals rather than simply as numbers in casualty lists.Setting his account in the context of British and European politics and warfare, Krebs explains the motivations of the German states that provided contract soldiers for the British army. We think of the Hessians as mercenaries, but, as he shows, many were conscripts. Some were new recruits; others, veterans. Some wanted to stay in the New World after the war. Krebs further describes how the Germans were made prisoners, either through capture or surrender, and brings to life their experiences in captivity from New England to Havana, Cuba.Krebs discusses prison conditions in detail, addressing both the American approach to war prisoners and the prisoners' responses to their experience. He assesses American efforts as a ""generous and merciful enemy"" to use the prisoners as economic, military, and propagandistic assets. In the process, he never loses sight of the impact of imprisonment on the POWs themselves.Adding new dimensions to an important but often neglected topic in military history, Krebs probes the origins of the modern treatment of POWs. An epilogue describes an almost-forgotten 1785 treaty between the United States and Prussia, the first in western legal history to regulate the treatment of prisoners of war.